After studying urbanism at Delft University Dolph Kessler worked as a regional planner and later as a municipal executive councillor of Leeuwarden. From 1995 on, when he started his own business as a consultant and organizer of study tours, he became intensely interested in photography. From 2003-2006 he studied at the Fotoacademie Amsterdam. At the end of December 2006 he graduated with a series about art fairs.

He is a member of the GKf, the most important professional organization for documentary and autonomous photography in the Netherlands. www.gkf-fotografen.nl

Specializations

1. Travel photography. Since 2003 he has worked with writer and journalist Gerrit Jan Zwier. His photos were published in the Volkskrant (travel supplement Traject), the Leeuwarder Courant, and in magazines like Te Voet, Op Pad, Nordic, Op lemen voeten, Geografie Magazine. Stoockx, Man of all Seasons, Plus Magazine, VROM Magazine and Noorderbreedte.

2. Documentary photography. He shoots documentary stories that partly appear as POD photo books in a limited edition. He also produces photographic projects in commission. He made the photo book Nieuw Winschoter Peil for the municipality of Winschoten and Between Dokkum and the sea for the municipality of Dongeradeel. Through Friese Pers Publishers he made a book about Frisian eel fishermen. A photo book about Art Fairs was published by d’jonge Hond Publishers. With this photography he is in line with a documentary tradition. To record those things that are changing, that won’t be here anymore in the near future.

3. Landscape and autonomous photography. He is especially interested in landscape photography. He also explores the area between autonomous and documentary photography, a border area in which one focuses mostly on reality. But instead of creating a purely photographic description Kessler tries to give the image multiple layers, so that it is lifted above the level of its immediate meaning.

I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one to find art fairs and gallery openings rather funny and confusing. I know I should be looking at the paintings on the wall, but I always get distracted and start to observe the art loving crowd even more. That’s why Art fairs – Mise en scenes from the art world by Dutch photographer Dolph Kessler just had to be my book of the month. It’s a collection of photo’s taken at art fairs around the world. More of Kessler’s pictures after the jump.

We are a funny bunch, aren’t we? Putting on our fancy clothes to go from opening to opening. Just to look and be looked at. Dolph Kessler was intrigued too by that rather theatrical setting, so he decided to travel the world, for three years, and take pictures at important art fairs.

He visited Frieze Art London, Art Cologne, Paris Photo, Art Dubai, Art Basel Miami Beach and even Art Brussels. He was aiming for pictures that would have a little bit more than just a documentary aspect to them. He really wanted them to have a theatrical feeling: as if the tableaux were ’staged’, with actors instead of just people accidentally walking by. Kessler likes to draw parallels with religion and churchgoers too. I’m not really following him on that one, but his pictures sure are fun to look at. The book is in Dutch and English and comes with a couple of essays and an interview with Mathew Slotover (Frieze Art London).

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